Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Time to say good-bye to my VW---

I decided to get rid of a car payment this week, and become a detroiter by buying an American vehicle. I will miss the "driving experience" of VW, but will hopefully have another one day. On Saturday a person from Wisconsin is travelling to my place to purchase the car. One thing to note if you want a car that doesn't depreciate quickly and is in high demand, look at buying a diesel VW. I have had the vehicle for two years, put 34,000 miles on it and sold the vehicle within 24 hours of posting it online to a person 2 states away for only a few thousand less than what I paid originally. If you haven't heard of www.craigslist.org check it out sometime. It is a great place to shop and advertise.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – March 28, 2006 – On April 29th, thousands of people across the country will take a new approach to ending a devastating war abroad – they’ll take it lying down. Invisible Children Inc., an organization committed to ending the war in Northern Uganda where children are forced to fight as soldiers, has organized a Global Night Commute in 136 cities across the country.

On this night, thousands will commute to their cities’ designated location and sleep outside on behalf of the invisible children of Northern Uganda. This event is a plea to the U.S. government to help put an end to this horrific 20-year-long war.

“It’s a moral outrage to see thousands of children that have been abducted, that have been maltreated. They are going through the most horrendous torture by the rebel movement and that same group is now being neglected by the whole international community,” said Jan Egeland, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs. “I cannot find any other part of the world having an emergency on the scale of Uganda with so little international attention.”

The event promises a wide variety of people from celebrities and legislators to activists and authors. Actress Kristen Bell, from the hit show “Veronica Mars” heard about Invisible Children through co-star Ryan Hansen.

“Invisible Children is not only an inspiring movement, but it has forced me to act,” said Kristen Bell. “On April 29th you’ll find me in the streets Night Commuting.”

The start of Invisible Children came in 2003 when three naive filmmakers, from Southern California, flew to Africa in search of a story that would change the world. What they found was a situation in Northern Uganda that disgusted and inspired them. They documented their findings of a 20-year-long war where children are the weapons, and the victims. The result was a film called, “Invisible Children: Rough Cut.” After seeing the impact of their film worldwide, they formed the non-profit Invisible Children Inc.

The organization is dedicated to ending the war in Northern Uganda where children are abducted and forced to fight with the rebel army as child soldiers. For fear of being hunted by the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army), these children commute on foot every night to find safe places to sleep in their town centers. To date, more than 30,000 children have been abducted and forced into war. That’s why Invisible Children is calling on the world to take a stand.

“The Global Night Commute is an opportunity for Americans to rally with one voice,” said Jason Russell, one of the filmmakers and founders of Invisible Children. “We are asking people to lie down and close their eyes with us for one night, so that we can open the world’s eyes to this unseen war.”

As a media-based company, the filmmakers will create a music video ‘mocumentary’ to encourage people to attend the Global Night Commute. This video will be sent out via Pod cast, a couple weeks before the event. With this video, the filmmakers are pushing the envelope on how aid is perceived in the world. They are grabbing the attention of a younger generation with media that is both funny and touching. This music video is the biggest production to date for the non-profit.

About Invisible Children Inc.

Invisible Children Inc., established in 2004, is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing financial resources to invisible children by documenting their true, untold stories in a creative and relevant way, resulting in positive change. Invisible Children Inc. was formed after the release of the film “Invisible Children: Rough Cut”, which documents a war in Northern Uganda in which children are abducted by a rebel army and forced to fight as child soldiers. The filmmakers for “Invisible Children: Rough Cut”, Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey and Laren Poole, are also the founders of Invisible Children Inc. Currently Invisible Children Inc. employs over 150 people in the war-torn area of Northern Uganda and is putting 300 kids through school, with plans to see that number grow into the thousands. The organization is based in San Diego, California.

Sunday, April 02, 2006

VACATION WEEKJanelle came to visit and discover the greater Detroit area.We packed in a full week together.Saturday Night: Janelle arrived, stopped by the house and gave a quick tour, then met up with interns and med students at Gizzmo's Jazz Club, then went to house of an intern and visitied for a while.Sunday: Went to Detroit Metro Christian Church, grocery shopped at Trader Joe's, had lunch at La Dolce Vita and enjoyed jazz music performed by Gypsy Strings of Detroit, drove through downtown, returned to home and made salad for dinner.Monday: Wedding Registry at Sommerset Collection in Troy Michigan. Sommerset is the largest mall I have ever been to and includes a sky walk that spans 6 lanes of traffic and parking. We spent 10 hours there, minus a nice lunch we packed and enjoyed near a water fountain outside the mall. Had delicious Thai food in Royal Oak at 10pm and then returned to home where I remembered I needed to read for a lecture I needed to attend in the morning.Tuesday: Surgery lecture at 7am, picked Janelle up at 9am, picked out Tuxedos at Mens Warehouse for wedding, went to another store for wedding registry, had dinner with my program director and his family, made black bean salsa togetherWednesday: Spent day at Detroit Art Institute, had dinner with medical education secretary and husband.Thursday: Toured hospital 7:30am, met friends (Larry, Dallas, & Amelia) for breakfast at 8:30am, left for Toronto, Canada at 10am. Arrived in Toronto at 2pm, checked in to Global Backpackers Youth Hostel, and began exploring the city by foot, including Chinatown, and the theater district. We had Vietnemese food for dinner and watched Blue Man Group, returned to Youth Hostel Bar and listened to live music, snacked, and danced, went to bed at 2am.Friday: Ran the waterfront along Lake Ontario, continued to explore city on foot (approx. 10 miles), found "Herbivore" a great Vegan/Organic restaurant in Kensington area (the hippie street), returned to Chinatown and enjoyed Mango and Red Bean Bubble Teas, then continued on to Old Town. Left Toronto at 3:30pm and experienced Toronto Rush hour (ugh...2 hours to go about 15 miles). Returned home around 10:30pm.Saturday: Worked out, breakfast together, our friend Trung came over and helped with Video interviews for wedding video, met with friends from church for lunch at Jimmy John's, went to Grosse Ile country club and met Dr. Lamb and wife Darlene, showed Janelle the Island with its beautiful homes, went to Elizabeth Park, met up with interns to celebrate a birthday.Sunday: Breakfast with intern Dean and wife Rhonda, went to church, took Janelle to airport, went to another church, had lunch with friends from church, went home and took a nap and then began to switch gears back to work mode for Monday morning.